EXPLORE RED RIVER DELTA OF VIETNAM – 4 DAYS/ 3 NIGHTS - From: 236$

This morning we leave Hanoi and drive westward to Duong Lam (60km - 2 hours drive). Let’s get back to the 17th century’s atmosphere when cycling through local houses, communal house – just like you’re immersing in the ancient time. Meet the local people there who still live in and keep their ancient houses as their soul. Then, visit a workshop where you can try making soya sauce by yourself. Lunch is served at a local house.

After lunch, we take a 3-hour journey towards Mai Chau town through picturesque mountains and valleys. For several centuries the White Thai tribe has lived here in this beautiful valley. The Thais are famous for their harmonious community life and many lovely traditions having existed for a very long time. As one of the traditions they still keep until now, they live close to rice fields and streams on stilt houses made by woods and bamboos. In the late afternoon you will arrive Mai Chau and check in your hotel. Free time for you to take a bath, and after that have a welcome dinner and enjoy a performance by locals of ethnic minority Muong and Thai people at a local traditional stilts house or at the lodge. It is optional to spend your night at the hotel or on the stilt houses.

You will spend this morning for a cycling tour around the village and area. During the trip through peaceful rural sights you will see buffalos and local people working on the fields, and other daily activities. Remember to take nice photos of them to save this memory. After lunch and a short rest, we will transfer about 7km to the home of Muong People of Cun Pheo Village for a light trekking. After a short visit to Cun Pheo village, continue our trip following the big trail to Van village of Thai people, keep going through the village and rice fields until we reach the hillside to trek. Just like the first day, you can choose to have dinner and overnight at the hotel or the homestay-place.

Leave Mai Chau for Hoa Lu via Nho Quan (150 km – 5 hour driving). Along the trip we will pass through one of the most picturesque countryside landscape of Vietnam with colorful plains, sugar land and waterfalls. Late in the noon you will arrive Hoa Lu and have late lunch. Then, heading to Hoa Lu, you will understand more about the country's history. Under the Dinh dynasty, it even boasted a citadel and had been the alluring capital of Vietnam from 938 to 1010. Now It has only two temples left, which were rebuilt in the 18th century, Dinh Tien Hoang and Le Dai Hanh, featuring Yen Ngua Mountain in the background. Afterwards, move to your hotel for check in. Have your own dinner and spend the night at hotel.

This morning we go visit Van Long Nature Reserve. Get ready to enjoy a spectacular and special beauty when taking a boat row through flooded rice fields surrounded by Limestone Mountains, having the same type of rock as that of the peaks in Halong Bay and Ninh Binh. Sitting on the sampans (small wooden boats) and surfing through the reserve, you will be extremely impressed by the paddler manoeuvring your boat aptly with his… feet. Such an amazing experience !

Adventuring through every meanders of the river, you will see yourself lost in an mystery world with ancient mountains and rain forests reflected in the water. As Van Long is also the natural habitat of various species of exotic birds, you will also have a good chance to discover their habits and take really nice pictures of them.

After that, take a cycling tour on the dike passing through the lovely Hoang Long River bordering one side and immense rice fields lying in the opposite side. Upon arrival at a local house, you will enjoy a delicious lunch cooked by the host.
This will absolutely provide you an unique and rewarding experience, as we have lunch amongst the karstic peaks, right at the heart of a small village in the region of Ninh Binh. Take this perfect chance to meet a traditional Vietnamese family and to chat with them to understand more about their lifestyle, their habitat, their pleasures and to see how important a family is to Vietnamese.

Take a short rest before returning to Hanoi by private vehicle (150 km – 2 hour driving). Arrive at the Hanoi in the late afternoon and our services also end here.